pat loughery

Three weekends ago I was preaching a sermon on integrity and hypocrisy from Matthew 6:1-6. The only child at the service was our daughter, so Kaileigh and Shannon were in the service with us.

I’m preaching well – I mean, it’s going great. I’m building some momentum, reaching some emotional points, and my daughter – who is now 22 months old – walks up to the front of the room and gives me a hug.

Cool, right?

Then, she bends down, takes off her diapers, and walks away.

Leaving a train of baby girl droppings behind her the whole way.

I was the only person that noticed – but now I’m thinkin’, what do I do??!? I have to tell Shannon there’s turds on the carpet. So I do. The whole place busts up.

I manage to continue, stumbling to the finish line.

I bet Rick Warren® doesn’t have to deal with this 😉

—

Here’s the best part. We had a guest that day. I thought she was a friend of one of our folks, because she came in and sat right next to her. So after we finish with ministry time, I go over to her to introduce myself. Turns out she and her husband were on a vacation from their home in Colorado, heading north to Canada. She wanted to visit a church, took an exit off the freeway and saw our signboards, and came in. As soon as we were done talking, she went out to her car, woke her napping husband up, and they drove off.

I’d give millions to hear the conversation that started with, “so how was that church?”